Outpatient nursing care implementations in Indonesian regional public hospitals

Objective: This study aimed to describe the nursing care implementations in the outpatient installations of several hospitals. Method: A descriptive study design was used with purposive random sampling. A total of 292 patients were included based on the following criteria: treated at the internal, neurological, ear, nose, and throat, pulmonary, surgical, skin, sex, and heart disease polyclinics, able to read and write, and attended more than one visit. This study was conducted in three central referral hospitals in the Bogor, Depok, and Jakarta areas of Indonesia. Results: The outpatient care implementation was not optimal in the three regional public hospitals (56.8%). The nurses minimally performed the outpatient nursing processes, namely diagnosis enforcement (63.7%) and implementation (62%). Conclusion: The implementation of care that is not optimal can result in a decrease in patient satisfaction and safety. The support of hospital management is needed to facilitate the availability of adequate nursing resources (both quantity and quality) and to provide equipment, facilities, and logistics to optimize nursing care.